Seyðisfjörður

Seyðisfjörður , Iceland

Seyðisfjörður is a town at the innermost point of the fjord of the same name. A road over Fjarðarheiði mountain pass connects Seyðisfjörður to the rest of Iceland; 27 kilometres (17 miles) to the ring road. The fjord itself is accessible on each side from the town, by following the main road that leads through the town. Further out the fjord is fairly remote but rich with natural interests including puffin colonies and ruins of former activity such as nearby Vestdalseyri, from where the local church was transported.

Settlement in Seyðisfjörður traces back to the early period of settlement in Iceland. The first settler was Bjólfur, who occupied the entire fjord. The burned down ruin of a staf church at Þórunnarstaðir has been carbon-dated to the 10th century, with earlier graves exhumed dating back to the 8th century. The town settlement in the Seyðisfjörður area started in 1848. The town was settled by Norwegian fishermen. These settlers also built some of the wooden buildings which still exist in the town.

Another now-deserted settlement nearby in the fjord, Vestddalseyri, was the site for the world's first modern industrialized whaling station. It was established in 1864 by the American whaler Thomas Welcome Roys and run by him and his workforce until 1866. Both settlements served primarily as fishing and trading posts.

The first telegraph cable connecting Iceland to Europe made landfall in Seyðisfjörður in 1906, making it a hub for international telecommunications well past the middle of last century. In 1913, a dam was made in the main river, harnessing power for the country's first high-voltage AC power plant together with a distribution network for street lighting and home use, also the first of its kind in Iceland.

Seyðisfjörður was used as a base for British/American forces during World War II and remnants of this activity are visible throughout the fjord, including a landing strip no longer in use and an oil tanker SS El Grillo that was bombed and sunk. It remains a divers' wreck at the bottom of the fjord.

With the recent demise of the local fish-processing plant, the village has shifted its economy to tourism. It still remains a significant fishing port on the east coast of Iceland, with harbours, ship construction facilities and a slip.

We walked round the town in the morning, and up to a rough path running above the town,: Chris found the going a bit hard, and we decided to opt out of the hike and drop back to the town: this proved somewhat of an adventure as the way down was rough and very steep. Any we made it and walked back through the town to the ship.

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After lunch and afternoon tea on board, we were ready for our "puffin hunt". Actually hunting the Snark would have been more productive. The tour gave a run out to a nature reserve along really rough roads and across three rivers. We then had a walk of about a mile to the cliffs which were alive with birds (including aparently puffins). There was also a frisson of adventure as we had to walk across a tern colony which did not like tourists, and proceeded to dive bomb us quite agressively.

The problem with trying to observe puffins is that they nest in burrows and only emerge to fly off to get food for the young, returning with fish. They are only therefore visible for brief moments on entry and exit. There were puffins spotted floating on the sea (honest) but only the telephoto lens could bring them vaguely into focus.

Our twenty or so fellow travellers did not seem too interested in the birds, and quickly made their way back to the rangers' house for snacks. We were the last back to the house. Then it was a return trip across the rivers.